Romeo and Juliet
...he change in his language. He impatiently says to Tybalt, ‘am I the master here, or you?’ and you can tell he is anxious that Tybalt may make a scene when he says, ‘you’ll make a mutiny among my guests!’ Lord Capulet insults Tybalt by calling him a ‘saucy boy’ and a ‘princox’ which means Tybalt is arrogant and quick to anger. There is a significant contrast between Tybalt’s anger in this scene and the joyous mood at the beginning of Act 1 Scene 3. The impression the audience will gain from Tybalt’s reaction to Romeo is that Tybalt must feel extreme hatred and loathing towards Romeo. His attitude proves how the Capulet family have kept a feud going with the Montagues. Tybalts behaviour establishes how the younger generation from the family have been brought up to despise and show no sympathy or respect for the Montagues. Tybalt cannot even stand to look at Romeo’s face. The audience would obtain the impression that Tybalt is a very temperamental and aggressive character. There are very contrasting atmospheres created during the scenes when Tybalt expresses his hatred and anger towards Romeo and the scene when Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. The scene when Tybalt shows his emotions of anger, it is very dramatic and serious. The characters show feelings of fury and irritation. This contrasts with the scene where Romeo and Juliet express their love and attraction for eachother. When they both are talking, it is in a form of a sonnet. This makes them seem as one voice, it is a memorable scene. They are innocently flirting as Romeo relates his feelings for Juliet to religion. He describes her body as a ‘holy shrine’ and he says his lips are like two ‘blushing pilgrims.’ He explains how the ‘pilgrim’ has to go to the ‘shrine.’ The language they use is very religious, they mention the words ‘saint,’ ‘holy palmer’s kiss,’ ‘prayer’s sake,’ and ‘sin.’ This shows how they are declaring their love before God as religion was very important at that time. Religion makes the relationship seem pure, holy and honest, they use it to give the message to each other that they want to kiss. The religious language also would let the audience know that their love was true, a declaration before God. The attraction between the two lovers is very strong at an early stage and the audience would be able to feel the love they felt for each other on stage. The scene was very passionate and touching. The beautiful, rambling speech from Romeo contrasts considerably with the sharp, angry language from Tybalt. After the scene with Romeo and Juliet at the Capulet ball, they both discover from the Nurse that they are sworn enemies. The mood noticeably changes from caring and loving to shock and despair. When Romeo realises Juliet is a Capulet, he says, ‘my life is my foe’s debt.’ He is worried and confused about what he should do. He knows that the Capulets will kill him if they find out about their romance, Romeo feels scared and uneasy. When the nurse delivers the information to Juliet she excitedly asks for her to find out Romeo’s name and whether he is married or not. Before finding out who Romeo is, she says, ‘my grave is like to be my wedding bed.’ This shows dramatic irony as the audience are fully aware that the play will end up with Juliet falling to her death all for her deep feelings of love towards Romeo. They know this from the prologue which would be read aloud to them at the start of the play. The prologue briefly explains what ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is about. It says, ‘A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life,’ and ‘The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love.’ The audience would be able to guess that ‘star-cross’d lovers’ is referring to Romeo and Juliet, and that the love they feel for each other will end up in death. What Juliet says is exactly what ends up happening in the play. When the nurse tells Juliet about Romeo being a Montague, she says that her love is too important to give up at any cost. She says, ‘my only love sprung from my only hate!’ She feels troubled as the person she truly loves turns out to be the only son of her great enemy. In this scene Juliet goes through all her emotions of anxiety and concern. She feels alone and in deep need of someone to talk to and go through all her worries with, but she knows she can’t because drinking the potion must be a complete secret from everyone. Juliet’s mother will be feeling very excited and thrilled at the prospect of Juliet marrying Paris the next morning. She has wanted Juliet to marry Paris for a long time and after many arguments and disputes, the day is nearly due for her daughter to marry a well respected, wealthy man. She eagerly comes to Juliet asking her if she needs any help to make sure she is ready for the marriage the following morning. She would come on stage very animated and energized, full of smiles. However Juliet only rejects her offer and quickly shuns her. She says, ‘so please you, let me now be left alone, I am sure you have your hands full all in this so sudden business.’ You can tell by what Juliet says to her mother that she is extremely nervous and worried about the whole situation. She does not want her mother around and needs to be left alone. Her mother would leave the stage disappointed and upset as her daughter does nor require her help for the ‘big day.’ Her face would show expressions of sadness and gloom. Even though the audience would feel sorry for Juliet’s mother, they would be feeling very eager and willing for her to leave the room so that they could see what Juliet would do next. The nurse will be feeling delighted that Juliet will soon be married. The nurse has known Juliet all her life and has helped bring her up. Knowing that the small girl she once knew will soon be married will be a very moving and pleasing experience for her to go through. However she will be feeling anxious as she is the only other person who knows in the Capulet family that Juliet is already to Romeo! The nurse will be feeling slightly worried as to how the dilemma will work out and this would show through her actions on stage. The audience would recognize her uneasiness and would begin to feel the same way. The audience will be thinking, will Juliet be able to get out of marrying Paris so easily, just as planned? Juliet’s emotions in this scene are extremely tense. Juliet desperately does not want to marry Paris. She does not love or care for him. However the main reason is that she is already married to her true love, Romeo. She feels like she could never live without him and wants to spend the rest of her life with him. Her huge dilemma is that her parents are forcing her to marry Paris, no matter how she feels about the situation. They are pressuring her into marrying a man she does not love. They have not paid any attention to her suffering and only cares about their daughter marrying this wealthy man. Juliet feels like she is trapped because she cannot explain to her parents that she is already married as they do not know. They would be appalled if they ever found out she had married behind their back and also the fact that the person she has married is a Montague, their worst enemy! Juliet is a very independent girl, she knew exactly what she wanted and she didn’t like being told what to do. She didn’t want to marry Paris and follow a life laid out for her by her parents. She wanted to persue her own dreams and lead life the way she wanted and make her own decisions. Juliet decides to follow the Friar’s advice and take a potion which will make her appear dead for forty two hours, but she will only be unconscious during this time. She decides to take the potion so that her family will think she has died, it is the only way Juliet can get out of marrying Paris whilst still being able to spend the rest of her life with Romeo. During this scene Juliet feels extremely worried about the whole situation. Juliet discusses her fears about...